I've got a design and I've got someone to paint it. Where do I go from here?
I've looked at a few threads but still haven't come to a definite conclusion. Smooth white or coated? Primer or no primer? Acrylic paint or other?
If I need a primer, could I not just spray paint my existing head white and then have the artist paint on that? It would sure save some money.

i want to do a similar thing with my reso head. our band name is come on go with us and my design idea was to have the name in western font wrapping around the edge of the head, right side up on the top, and upside down on the bottom. i just bought a remo fiberskyn 3 head, i would love to finish it this week. we have a big show in our home town on friday... i have a design done on the computer but i dont know how to transfer it. i can draw and paint; i need a way to lay out the design.

what type of paint should i use? i was thinking about using hobby paint like on model cars.
doesnt acrylic need primer?

Take your design to a sign shop and have them cut it out of black vinyl. They'll put a mask over the vinyl and it will keep all your intricate details from moving around and it keeps it all together.

It's cheaper than silk screening because for a 1 off type of design they have to burn a huge screen to be able to create it and unless your doing about 20 or more heads with that design its not cost effective.

My advice go with the cut vinyl, it will be permanent as long as you want it to be and if you want a new design you can peel it off when you please.

Take your design to a sign shop and have them cut it out of black vinyl. They'll put a mask over the vinyl and it will keep all your intricate details from moving around and it keeps it all together.

It's cheaper than silk screening because for a 1 off type of design they have to burn a huge screen to be able to create it and unless your doing about 20 or more heads with that design its not cost effective.

My advice go with the cut vinyl, it will be permanent as long as you want it to be and if you want a new design you can peel it off when you please.

I dunno about spray paint. What I do know is that my head was finished the other day. It was done with sharpie. It looks not half bad; I'm pretty happy with it. It's on my kick right now. I'll get some pics asap!

I have done a couple of "custom" heads. The first was on my oldest kit and drum head- the guy I bought it from bought it originally from the local high school, so the kit had their mascot logo on the front head, painted. I didn't have the cash for a new head, and certainly didn't want the high school logo on there anymore, so I gave my mom (an artist) a design I liked and she went to work. She painted the whole thing black (it was clear before) and then did a nifty "Buddy Rich" style stripe and initials logo. Up close you could see the brush strokes, but from more than about 5 feet it looked professionally done. I used it that way for about a year until I was given an Evans EQ3 head which lived on there until I sold the kit. I still have the painted head hanging in my music room. Acrylic paint is pretty flexible, and it's not like you're going to put a lot of tension on a bass reso head anyway.

The other "custom" heads weren't quite so involved. For my band, my sister (also an artist) laid out the band logo (a simple L overlaid with a T) with white electrical tape on the head. Looks good to me:

The only head head modification I've done is the reso head I had on my very first kit. It had the logo at 12 o clock and the port at 6. Now, I like my port a little offset, but the logo was causing a visual problem with that. So... I just Sharpied over the logo and rotated the head. Only noticeable from about 3 feet away, and even then only when you know what you're looking for. Check out before and after (that's my band's drummer on the kit, not me):

__________________

PEWFLADCC- Conductor of PEWFLADCC Philharmonic and State Steam Locomotive

Looks good, especially if that's Sharpie.
I don't mean this in a 'snarky' kind of way, but I think that might look REALLY cool with some colored 'glitter-paint' accents. Seriously. It would kinda lend to the child-like 'arts&crafts' element that the band name and the logo sort of allude to..........

BUT, if you weren't already done- I would second the vinyl approach. I've done a few of my guitars with it, and I love it. If your design isn't overly intricate, you can do it yourself. I used some scrap vinyl to do my kick head;

Granted, it wouldn't stand up too well under an extreme camera close up, but I've never been a sign maker, so I think it's pretty good for an amateur........

Yeah, I did this with a sharpie, I got a brand new chisel point and then a few other regular sharpies. The key to making this look good is to follow these steps:

print out your design how you want it black ink on lightweight paper
tape the design on the inside of the head in place how you want it
shine a light through it and trace the design in pencil
do the outline in thin sharpie
fill in the lines using a chisel point, be careful not to go over places you already colored.
then turn the head over and fill in the back side of the head too (this is a really important step because it stops light from showing through and gives you a darker black)
this took me about 2.5 hours to complete from start to finish. It kind of sucks because basically you are drawing the design 3 times. once in pencil, once on the front, once on the back.

It helps if you have a thick book that you can put under the head for support.

the sad thing about that head is it maybe lasted two months and the fiddle player in my band knocked the mic stand into it tore the head. I was about to re-do and he just broke another head! I swear i'm going to kill him!

Take your design to a sign shop and have them cut it out of black vinyl. They'll put a mask over the vinyl and it will keep all your intricate details from moving around and it keeps it all together.

It's cheaper than silk screening because for a 1 off type of design they have to burn a huge screen to be able to create it and unless your doing about 20 or more heads with that design its not cost effective.

My advice go with the cut vinyl, it will be permanent as long as you want it to be and if you want a new design you can peel it off when you please.

That's my advice too. I used to work in a sign shop and when i eventually get my band's name put on a head that's the route I am going to go. Its really good for simple single or dual color designs... i couldn't see the OP's design so I have no idea how detailed or how many colors but for simple applications vinyl is definately the way to go.